


Handled

by Liara_90



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Established Relationship, F/F, Food as a Metaphor for Love, One Shot, POV Female Character, POV Third Person, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27876657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liara_90/pseuds/Liara_90
Summary: Modern AU. Kyoshi has been running herself ragged trying to finish her term paper. Rangi resorts to desperate measures to make sure that her girlfriend remembers to look after herself, too.
Relationships: Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 94





	Handled

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [If It's Sooo Important](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26503240) by [NashidaKyouko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NashidaKyouko/pseuds/NashidaKyouko). 



> Is 'Rangi is concerned that Kyoshi is skipping meals' a fandom trope or a subgenre at this point? Anyways, here's my take on it.

* * *

For the past nine-and-a-half hours, Kyoshi’s world had, for all practical purposes, shrunk until it consisted of nothing but her (definitely-not-ergonomic) armchair, her (so-old-you’re-scared-to-reboot-it) computer, and the blinking cursor icon of her word processor, which was steadily marching forward through page after page of caffeine-fueled essay-writing. The sun had already set, but Kyoshi hadn’t thought to turn any lights on, and the commons area of the dorms had been quiet for some time now.

So when someone knocked on the door of her dorm room at ten minutes to seven, knuckles rapped thrice with martial curtness, it startled Kyoshi like a bolt of lightning from the heavens.

“Kyoshi, it’s time for dinner,” called out a voice from the other side of the door, clipped and feminine and leaving no room in its tone for argument.

Jolted out of the world of her essay, Kyoshi had to wait a few seconds for her heart rate to slow down before she could respond. “ _Can’t_ ,” she finally called back, her eyes racing across the lines of her essay in an attempt to remember the argument she’d been making. “Paper due tomorrow!”

A paper where nothing less than perfection would do. Not after taking two part-time jobs in her senior year just to scrape together enough money to get through the door. Not after the months of writing essays and practice exams while waiting for the night bus back home. Not before she had proven herself, before she had proven them _wrong_.

There was a long pause from the other side of the door. For a fleeting moment, Kyoshi dared to dream that that meant that Rangi had given up and left. That she had escaped yet another tongue-lashing over yet another missed meal.

“ _And what did you have for lunch?_ ”

_Busted_. Kyoshi’s (empty) stomach sank and her brow furrowed, though her gaze still didn’t drift from the 12-point-font-double-spaced paper on her monitor. “Um…” The sleep-deprived gears in her brain struggled to click. “...I think there was some leftover pizza?”

The door to her dorm swung open with a _creak_ worthy of any slasher movie. Kyoshi had sworn she’d locked it. She dared a sheepish look to the door, where one Rangi Seinaka stood astride the threshold. Kyoshi’s room was dark, unlit except for the whitish glow of her computer screen, leaving Rangi silhouetted by the harsh hallway light behind her.

“We finished the pizza last night,” Rangi corrected, her voice dropping to a menacing contralto. “And Kirima says you’ve only left your room to go to the bathroom. Which leads me to conclude…” Rangi’s voice suggested that she was about to unmask the killer in a murder-mystery, “...that you’ve been skipping meals.”

Kyoshi flinched. “I’ve been eating…” she half-protested, half-mumbled, eyes darting damningly to the wireframe wastebasket beside her desk.

“Have you now?” asked Rangi, in a patronizing tone of voice she’d almost certainly picked up from her mother. And then, in a move that caused Kyoshi’s already-strained heart to pump even faster, Rangi leaned over the wastebasket and began sifting through its contents.

“Let’s see… vending machine potato chips… vending machine potato chips… a chocolate bar... a protein bar… and one… one, two, three, _four_ energy drinks?” Her voice pitched upwards towards the end, as disappointment rapidly morphed into _dismay_. “Honestly, Kyoshi, you’re going to give yourself diabetes or a heart attack or quite probably both!”

“I know, I know, I just…” Kyoshi shrunk in her chair as Rangi took a menacing step towards her. Even when Kyoshi was seated there was only a marginal height difference between the two women, but Rangi managed to tower over her all the same. “...I just need to finish this paper. Then-”

“ _No_ , Kyoshi, what you _need to do_ is have a halfway-decent meal, so you don’t pass out from exhaustion.” Rangi sighed. “Come on, the residence cafeteria is still open for a few more minutes. Let’s pencil in a thirty-minute break so you’ll live past thirty-three. You need food and fresh air.”

“I’d love to, Rangi, I really would,” pleaded Kyoshi. She picked at the peeling fabric of her armrest, an old, nervous habit. “But I still have almost 2,000 words to write and I won’t be able to think about anything but the paper until I at least get that done.”

Rangi let out a sigh belonging to a much older woman. “I was worried you’d say that.”

And then, without another word, she stormed out of Kyoshi’s room.

Kyoshi sat uncertainly in her chair, fingers darting treacherously to the keyboard to finish _just one more_ sentence before her dried-out eyes began to bleed. _It wasn’t fair_ , really. _Rangi_ was the kind of woman whose notebooks were filled with color-coded sticky tabs and had the discipline to finish copy-editing her essays _entire days_ before they were due. _She_ never knew the low-key dread of trying to fill page after page with half-formed thoughts in a manic hurry to meet a deadline worth 40% of her grade. Kyoshi hadn’t had a headmistress for a mother and hadn’t been endowed at birth with perfect study habits and time-management skills and-

The door to her dorm slammed shut, followed by the soft _click_ of the lock and the louder _thunk_ of the deadbolt. Kyoshi was now rather literally locked in with Rangi.

Rangi set something down on the edge of her desk, pointedly ignoring her. Kyoshi’s pupils - so constricted from staring at the white pages of her word processor - could only make out a vaguely circular shape. Kyoshi moved to stand up from her chair, but Rangi pushed her back down, firmly. Before she could protest, Rangi swung one leg over the woman’s lap, so she was facing and straddling her beloved. Trapping Kyoshi further still.

“Rangi… Rangi what-” Kyoshi’s words were cut off by the sight of her girlfriend removing her top, in a gesture that was more _angry_ than _seductive_. Rangi even tossed said shirt into the corner, _without_ folding it.

They were truly in uncharted waters now.

Kyoshi swallowed. Rangi’s body was quite literally blocking her view of the computer screen, was interposing itself between her and her keyboard. ( _And what an interposing body it was._ ) Kyoshi’s eyes darted everywhere at once, unsure of what exactly she should be looking at. The lithe muscles of her girlfriend’s arms, straining against the armrests. Her silken hair, tied up in a strict bun and seeming to shimmer in the dim light. The black cotton bra. The feel of Rangi’s legs rubbing against hers. The look of utter _determination_ in her eyes.

Rangi took Kyoshi’s hands in her own, guiding them off of her sides and onto the armrests.

“Close your eyes,” she said, her whisper a command.

Kyoshi complied, feeling her breath catching in her throat as she did. She waited a second. Two. Three. Heard Rangi fidgeting with something, felt her weight shifting in Kyoshi’s lap.

And then she heard, simultaneously and from to different directions, a _whizz_ , as something pinched her forearms.

Her eyes darted open, just in time to catch the smug grin of her girlfriend. Kyoshi realized, in vague horror, that her arms had just been tied to the armrests by plastic zipties, leaving her completely, utterly, at the mercy of her Rangi.

“We could have done this _easy_ way,” Rangi growled, as Kyoshi tested her bonds. They were the cheap dollar-store variety, more used for tying down tarps than prisoners, but they were serving that latter purpose well-enough for the time being. Kyoshi had no way to slide the zip ties off the armrest, and they were _just_ tight enough to keep her from slipping her wrists out from under them.

“But _someone_ …” both of Rangi’s hands cupped Kyoshi’s face, her thumb brushing over Kyoshi’s cheekbone “...was being _stubborn_.”

“Rangi, please, I’m sorry I worried you,” Kyoshi apologized, genuinely meaning the words even if they were also a ploy to escape. “Let me just get to the end of this page… this section… and we can grab a bite?”

“You’ve been running on nothing but sugary drinks and junk food since _yesterday_ , Kyoshi,” Rangi replied, sounding genuinely hurt. “You can eat _now_.”

The silence lasted several heartbeats. Rangi’s gaze was unflinching, her expression unyielding. Iron was more malleable than her will.

“Okay, but…” Kyoshi strained lightly against her restraints, splaying her fingers. “Can you at least let me go? So I can eat?”

Rangi grinned. “ _No_.”

Rang twisted backwards, reaching for whatever she’d dropped on Kyoshi’s desk. And just as Kyoshi opened her mouth to protest, a single piece of sushi was slipped past her lips.

The sushi was nothing special. It came in a plastic container from the cafeteria, and had been sitting in the fridge for several hours now. It was the simplest of California rolls, Kyoshi was pretty sure, white rice, avocado, cucumber, a little cool from being over-refrigerated, and smeared with horseradish and food colorant that was passing itself off wasabi.

And as Rangi’s fingers brushed against Kyoshi’s lips, she was certain that it was the most delicious thing she’d ever had.

“I’m sorry this isn’t fresher,” Rangi apologized, as Kyoshi chewed and swallowed the piece, savoring the burning sensation in her sinuses. Rangi always did use too much spice. “I was hoping to share it with you for lunch, but you were so immersed in your paper.” She reached back around to Kyoshi’s desk, picking up another piece from the platter. “...And I got tired of waiting.”

“ _Rangi_ …”

Another piece was placed delicately into Kyoshi’s mouth. Rangi wrapped her arms around Kyoshi’s neck, staring into her eyes. The anger and concern and disappointment were gone entirely, replaced with nothing but love.

“I know how hard you worked to get here, Kyoshi,” she began, her thumbs pressing gently into the back of Kyoshi’s neck. “I know there are some nights you feel like you still don’t deserve to be here - _don’t deny it_.” Kyoshi lowered her eyes, a little sheepishly. “And I know how hard you push yourself as a result.”

Rangi placed another piece of sushi in Kyoshi’s mouth, leaving her fingers on Kyoshi’s lips just a _little_ longer than necessary. Kyoshi had to admit that it was an extremely effective way of keeping her from interrupting.

“ _Fine_. Maybe one day I’ll get through that beautiful, gorgeous, _incredibly thick_ skull of yours that you don’t have to feel guilty about feeling happy.” Rangi touched their foreheads together, and Kyoshi froze mid-chew. “But the _absolute least_ I can do is save you from your own self-destructive burnout deathwish!”

Rangi’s arms tightened around Kyoshi’s neck, threatening to strangle her. “Let me do that, okay?”

There might have been something in Rangi’s eye. There was definitely something in Kyoshi’s.

“Okay…” Kyoshi whispered in agreement, and Rangi _sniffled_ in a way that had nothing to do with her allergies.

And then Kyoshi’s eyes darted back to the platter. “Could I… could I have soy sauce on the next one?”

Rangi let out a wet laugh, brushing Kyoshi’s cheek for a few long, agonizing seconds. “ _Yes_. Yes, of course.”

Rangi twisted back around, fumbling with the little plastic packet of soy sauce and slathering it on several of the pieces. She didn’t notice at all the way Kyoshi was straining in her seat.

“Here,” she finally said, holding the slightly-sticky piece in her hand and guiding it into Kyoshi’s mouth.

“Thankffs…” Kyoshi mumbled back. She swallowed loudly. “I think I, uh… I think I got a bit of it on me, though,” she murmured, gesturing with her shoulder to where a bit of soy sauce had ended up around her chin. “Can you wipe that up?”

Rangi paused for a long moment. “I can do one better.”

And then she was kissing her way up her Kyoshi, licking up the sauce and then some, greedily drinking in her girlfriend’s lips and mouth and tongue-

-and there was a small jolt, and Rangi suddenly realized that she was no longer pinning Kyoshi to the chair. Kyoshi had, in fact, gotten out of the chair entirely, and scooped Rangi up into her arms in the process, bridal-style.

“Wait, how did you-” Rangi managed to ask, before Kyoshi dumped her unceremoniously on the twin-bed opposite her desk.

“I’m something of an unstoppable force,” Kyoshi growled back, between kisses that ran all along Rangi’s neck. The cables were strong, and had carved deep ridges along her wrists that would take a week to fade entirely, but in truth there was simply no force in the universe that could keep Kyoshi from her Rangi.

“ _Damn right_ ,” Rangi managed to reply, as her Kyoshi began tugging her pants off of her, one leg turned inside-out in the process. Suddenly appreciating the need to maintain her stamina, Kyoshi snatched a piece of sashimi from the platter and swallowed it in a gulp. The taste was still on her lips when they met with Rangi’s.

Rangi let out a moan of utter happiness that reverberated down to Kyoshi’s bones.

The screensaver on Kyoshi’s computer finally kicked in, the essay on it long forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback of any sort is welcomed, comments are appreciated whenever you find this fic. Your reviews and readership are treasured.
> 
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